Four home runs were not enough for the North Fork Ospreys on Tuesday night, as they fell to the Southampton Breakers 12-10. Southampton, 13-21-1, now has a half game lead over North Fork, 13-23, for the Wildcard spot. Southampton has five games left in the regular season, while the Ospreys have four.
The Breakers got the ball rolling in the top of the first inning off of North Fork starter Joe Pizzingrillo (Pace). Johnny Hipsman of Richmond singled, followed by a double from UNC Greensboro product Mike Ferrara. Hipsman scored on a groundball for the first run of the game.
Hofstra southpaw Rob Lucano got the start for Southampton and he fired a 1-2-3 bottom of the first.
The game remained relatively quiet until the top of the third. Southampton put up nine batters, scoring five runs on four hits, and an error. Designated hitter Jacob Bassil of Williams College lead off with a single. A walk to Tony Zambito (Southern Connecticut) and another single from Hipsman loaded the bases for Mike Ferrara, who doubled for the second time, driving in two runs pushing the Breakers lead to 3-0. Both Hipsman and Ferrara scored on an error off the bat of Robbie Holmes (Monmouth), and Holmes scored on a sacrifice fly from Gerard Sweeney (Lehigh) giving Southampton a 6-0 lead after the top of the third.
Southampton’s Rob Lucano brought his dominant start into the bottom of the fifth. Through four, he had yet to allow a hit with five strikeouts. With one out in the bottom of the fifth, North Fork First Baseman Anthony Fontana of Chipola College launched a solo home run over the right field wall to cut the lead to 6-1. Justin Meyer (Richmond) reached on an error and then Tyler White of Hofstra showed off some power of his own by clearing the right center field wall for the second Osprey home run of the inning, cutting the Southampton lead to 6-3. Cortland’s Joe Tardiff singled, and was eventually driven in by Eastern Michigan Catcher Nick Jones for the final run of the inning. 6-4 Southampton after five.
Pizzingrillo was relieved by Frankie Giuliano, his Pace teammate, and he threw two scoreless innings in the fifth and the sixth, giving up one hit with five punch outs.
Southampton opened the game up yet again in the top of the seventh. Hipsman led off with a walk, followed by Ferrara’s third double of the game. Eric Marasheski of Princeton, who came into the game for Holmes, singled both runners in, pushing the Breaker lead to 8-4. That ended Giuliano’s night and he was relieved by St Thomas Aquinas right hander Justin Baeyens. The first batter he faced was his college catcher Kyle Lagrutta, who doubled in a run down the right field line, for a 9-4 lead. Lagrutta scored on Justice Thompson’s (Northwest Florida State) single before Baeyens retired the next three batters. The Breakers took a 10-4 lead into the bottom of the seventh.
Monroe College’s Rigo Tapia came on in relief in the bottom of the seventh for Southampton. Starter Rob Lucano finished six innings, giving up four runs on four hits, all of which came in the fifth inning. After Tabia recorded the first out, North Fork Right fielder Tyler White homered for the second time in as many at bats to cut the lead to 10-5. White, who had one home run coming into the game, doubled his season total. Tabia retired the next two batters to end the seventh inning, with a 0-5 Southampton lead.
With one out in the top of the eighth, Johnny Hipsman reached base for the fifth straight time, as he homered to right center field for an 11-5 Breaker lead. Ferrara reached on an error and eventually scored on Lagrutta’s sac fly, giving Southampton a 12-5 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth.
Javier Vaz (LSU Eunice) and Anthony Porrino (Sacred Heart) both singled off of Tapia in the bottom of the eighth, and with two outs, Anthony Fontana hit an absolute moonshot to right center field for a three run home run. His second of the game, and his fourth of the season, taking back sole possession of the team lead from Tyler White in the process. Peyton Maple of Monmouth came on to relieve Tabia, and he recorded the final out of the eighth, a strikeout to Justin Meyer. Heading into the ninth, North Fork trailed 12-8.
Bryant Bulldog Mike Randazzo came on to pitch the top of the ninth for the Ospreys, and he struck out the side, keeping North Fork within two runs heading into the bottom of the ninth.
Tyler White lead off and flew out to the deepest part of the park, dead center field for out number one. White missed his third home run of the game by only about 15 feet. Joe Tardiff reached on an error, stole second, and advanced to third on Tyler Gilespy’s (Campbell) groundball to second. With two outs, Javier Vaz doubled to right, scoring Tardiff. Jones singled, and Porrino drove in Vaz with a single of his own, cutting the Southampton lead to two runs. Jones and Porrino advanced to second and third on a wild pitch, with two outs, Porrino representing the tying run on second. But Isaac Deveaux (Utah) came up short for North Fork as he grounded out to third, ending the game with Southampton on top 12-10.
The @SH_Breakers takeover the 5th spot in the @HamptonsLeague with a 12-10 win over the @NForkOspreys. Johnny Hipsman lead the way with 3 hits, including a home run. Breakers now hold a half game lead over NF for the wild card with 4 games left in the season. @hamptoncoffee pic.twitter.com/lHvTlcL62r
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 17, 2019
Rob Lucano got the win for Southampton in his six inning start, while Joe Pizzingrillo was tagged with the loss for North Fork. Southampton now has a half game lead over the Ospreys for the wild card spot in the HCBL playoffs. North Fork will visit the last place Long Island Road Warriors tonight at 5 at Bellport High School, and Southampton will host the third place Shelter Island Bucks, also at 5pm, at Southampton High School.
